


Cold Weather

by ToxicPineapple



Series: Writing Weeks I Didn't Finish [5]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Background Relationships, Banter, Conversations, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Healing, Hugs, Human K1-B0 (Dangan Ronpa), Ice Skating, Light Angst, Nonbinary Iidabashi Kiibo, Oumeno Week, Oumeno Week 2020, Oumeno is the focus, Platonic Relationships, Post-Canon, Post-Killing School Life (Dangan Ronpa), Romance, Simulation AU, Trans Ouma Kokichi, Trans Yumeno Himiko, Virtual Reality, angst if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27791131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToxicPineapple/pseuds/ToxicPineapple
Summary: “What’re you prattlin’ on about,” Kaito grumbles a little, reaching out and ruffling Kokichi’s hair with his free (noticeably bare) hand. Kokichi huffs indignantly and ducks his head, and then a broad grin spreads across Kaito’s features. “Good to see you guys too, even if I’m pretty sure I saw you at my sidekick’s last week.”“Which sidekick?” Kokichi asks, all innocent-like, as if he doesn’t know exactly what it is that Kaito is talking about.Kaito rolls his eyes, and Himiko feels her lip curling. Things were pretty awkward between the two of them when they all got out of the simulation, which was… to be expected, Himiko thinks. There was a time when people were sure they weren’t ever actually going to talk about what had happened, and Himiko certainly wasn’t going to force Kokichi, who admitted once in the dark that sometimes he walked into a room expecting neon pink blood to be dripping down Kaito’s chin, but while time doesn’t necessarily heal all wounds, they… talked it out eventually.It would’ve been hard to go on like that, when their girlfriends are so close, anyway.---Kokichi and Himiko invite their friends ice skating.---Oumeno week day one: Winter/Summer
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Chabashira Tenko, Amami Rantaro/Saihara Shuichi, Iruma Miu/K1-B0, Momota Kaito/Harukawa Maki, Ouma Kokichi/Yumeno Himiko
Series: Writing Weeks I Didn't Finish [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022718
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	Cold Weather

**Author's Note:**

> written for oumeno week day one! the prompt was winter/summer
> 
> i wish i could do the full week... i've had so few writing spoons lately but i really wanted to do at least one day of this writing challenge because the host is incredible and i have such a soft spot for oumeno. please support animercom and the other participants of this week, i'm so excited to see that content!!! :D

Himiko shivers a little, wrapping her arms around herself and looking up at the sky, wrinkling her nose as she watches icy white snowflakes start to cover the street in front of her. Ugh. She should’ve known it would snow today. Her fingers are already pink tinted as she reaches up a hand to tug down on her beanie, sniffling, tucking her chin down into the neck of her sweater. It’s so cold.

“I toooold you Himi Himi would’ve been happier wearing gloves,” Kokichi giggles beside her, bumping his shoulder against hers. Himiko grumbles at him, but as he leans away, she leans after him, pressing her face into the furry hood of his parka. Kokichi has, for as long as Himiko has known him, rarely  _ ever  _ come into a situation unprepared. Today is clearly no exception, because as Kokichi hums, wrapping one of his arms around Himiko and pulling her in, his other hand slips into his pocket and retrieves a pair of gloves. They’re purple, and clearly his own, but Kokichi’s hands are only barely larger than Himiko’s, so it’s not really an issue.

“I didn’t think it was gonna snow,” Himiko defends, sulking, as she pulls the gloves on over her hands. She keeps herself tucked into Kokichi’s side, however, leaning her head against his shoulder as she scans the area. It’s hard to see too far ahead of herself with the snowfall, but most of the people they’re waiting for are distinct enough in appearance that it shouldn’t be all that much of an issue, picking them out of a crowd. “And we were really specific about the time to meet here! Didn’t think we were gonna have to wait so long.”

“It’ll be just as cold in the rink,” Kokichi says, with a smile, resting one of his (gloved) hands on top of Himiko’s head. Smug asshole. Some days Himiko is convinced the only reason he’s going out with her is because she’s one of the few people he knows that’s actually shorter than him. (Except Ryoma, but, Himiko doesn’t think Kokichi and Ryoma would really… work… and it’s also pretty weird to think about her boyfriend dating other people, so Himiko brushes the thought to the side.) “They gotta keep it super cold, y’know? Once they freeze all the little babies who come in and skate with their parents, they grind them up like sausage meat and use them as new ice for the skating!”

“Gross,” Himiko mumbles. “Why do you always say dumb stuff like that?”   
  


“Hey! It’s not so bad. Take it from me. Not every day you can hear the firsthand experiences of someone who’s been ground up like sausage meat, y’know?” Kokichi is giggling, but the remark makes Himiko’s brow wrinkle, just for a moment.

He acts casual enough about it, during the daytime, when they’re out like this and about to have a day of fun. Sometimes the whole group will get together-- like they’re going to do today, once everyone else shows up-- and he’ll make jokes like that, just to make Kaito squirm a little bit. But Himiko’s seen him through the nighttime, too, when he wakes up screaming, his whole body shuddering with the memory of pain that wasn’t real, and she’s seen him flinching and reaching for her arm whenever Maki moves too abruptly, or when he steps on a loose floorboard. Kokichi’s a great liar, but Himiko can tell, now.

She’d think that he hates it, that she can tell, but he’s told her before that she’s the only reason he can keep smiling some days, so Himiko really doesn’t know  _ what  _ to believe, with that. At least she can be here.

At any rate, Himiko decides not to call him out on the lie. She shifts to kiss him on the cheek, and grumbles, “Gonna have to find someone else to conduct your exclusive interview,” before settling back down. She watches Kokichi’s smile soften, for a longer moment than it would if their friends were here, and he opens his mouth to reply, but then his expression changes and he looks up, a wide, toothy grin on his face.

“Kaito-chan! Harumaki-chan! You made it! It’s been so long, I’ve missed you so much, y’know?” Kokichi’s eyes well with tears, and Himiko looks up to watch as Maki and Kaito comes over, one of Maki’s hands being held in Kaito’s pocket. Kaito is actually wearing a parka right now, and a purple beanie with a silly looking pompom on the top, which is surprising, because he never really seems to. It must be Maki’s influence. Maki, similarly, is wearing a fluffy jacket and earmuffs, and a mitten on the hand that isn’t being held inside Kaito’s pocket. There’s a light flush on her pale face, though whether that’s from the cold, or from the PDA, Himiko couldn’t say one way or the other.

“What’re you prattlin’ on about,” Kaito grumbles a little, reaching out and ruffling Kokichi’s hair with his free (noticeably bare) hand. Kokichi huffs indignantly and ducks his head, and then a broad grin spreads across Kaito’s features. “Good to see you guys too, even if I’m pretty sure I saw you at my sidekick’s last week.”

“Which sidekick?” Kokichi asks, all innocent-like, as if he doesn’t know exactly what it is that Kaito is talking about.

Kaito rolls his eyes, and Himiko feels her lip curling. Things were pretty awkward between the two of them when they all got out of the simulation, which was… to be expected, Himiko thinks. There was a time when people were sure they weren’t ever actually going to talk about what had happened, and Himiko certainly wasn’t going to force Kokichi, who admitted once in the dark that sometimes he walked into a room expecting neon pink blood to be dripping down Kaito’s chin, but while time doesn’t necessarily heal all wounds, they… talked it out eventually.

It would’ve been hard to go on like that, when their girlfriends are so close, anyway. Himiko pulls away from Kokichi and shivers as the cold hits her (he’s no Momota Kaito, or anything, but he’s warm, especially when Himiko leans against him like that) before stepping over to Maki, looking up at her, expectantly.

Maki snorts, pulling her hand out of Kaito’s and wrapping her arms around Himiko’s shoulders, giving her a chaste kiss on the forehead. Himiko smiles a little as she tucks herself into her friend’s embrace, breathing in the smell of apple cider and baked bread that always hovers around her and Kaito.

She’s hugged Maki before, but she had to check first, anyway, because Maki was never  _ really  _ an assassin, she never really killed or endured those years of torture that gave her face that weathered look, even in the comfortable silences, but those memories remained even years after getting out of the simulation, and there are days where the slightest of touches will make Maki lash out and pin the culprit to the wall, her eyes flashing.

Not today, though. Himiko squeezes Maki a little bit before she pulls away, and Maki pats her on the head.

“Are we the second ones here?” Maki asks, as Himiko returns to stand next to Kokichi, cutting off whatever little spat their boyfriends had gotten into on the side.

“Yeah,” Kokichi sighs. “It’s pretty lame, isn’t it? You’d expect Rantaro-chan to be late, but Miu-chan? My heart is  _ broken.”  _ His eyes well with more tears, and Maki scoffs at him, prompting him to grin. “But reeeaaally, Chabashira-chan and Akamatsu-chan must’ve gotten bad traffic or something, because they’d totes never be late if they could help it.”

“Traffic’s always pretty shitty when it snows,” Kaito says, rubbing his neck as he looks up at the sky, squinting up into the clouds. Himiko would  _ never  _ say it to him, because he ruffles her hair enough as it is, but Kaito’s got remarkably long eyelashes, and she can see snowflakes catching in them as he looks up at the sky. “Doesn’t help that Kaede and Tenko are, y’know,” he gestures a little.

“Bad drivers,” Maki says flatly.

“Not bad!” Kaito defends, holding his hands up in a defensive position. “Just, they’re--”

“We’re pretty bad drivers, Kaito, it’s true,” Kaede, giggling, sticks her head out from behind Kaito, and his eyes go a little wide before he turns around to bear hug her. Himiko sighs. Always the bear hugs, with those two. If Kaede is here, though, this means that Himiko is no longer safe, and she should--

“HIMIKO!!!” A pair of strong arms wrap themselves around Himiko from behind, and Himiko shrieks a little with laughter as she’s hoisted up into the air, spun around by someone who is undoubtedly Tenko, by the smell of cherry blossoms and green apple that hits her. Himiko scrambles for purchase on her friend’s shoulders, grinning despite herself, even as she tries to feign exasperation at being snuck up on.

“Tenko!” Himiko exclaims, lifting a hand to muffle the giggles that slip out of her as Tenko lowers her back to the ground. Tenko’s not wearing a hat or earmuffs, but rather a big puffy coat and pink mittens that are probably Kaede’s, and a broad, toothy smile that only widens when they make eye contact. “Nyehh, I missed you, you guys have been busy.”

“Tenko is sorry!” Tenko says, at once, and she does sound pretty earnest, but that wasn’t really Himiko’s intended reaction, so she gives Tenko a look. “Uhh, Tenko means, well,” Tenko chuckles a little, rubbing the back of her neck. “Tenko missed Himiko too, is what I meant! Moving is tough business, but Tenko and Kaede have been thinking of you! Less of Himiko’s degenerate boyfriend.”

“Chabashira-chan, that’s so cold,” Kokichi says, his eyes welling with tears, before he lets out an  _ oof  _ as Kaede comes over to embrace him. Tenko rolls her eyes, and Himiko snorts a little into her hand. She’s pretty sure that Kokichi harasses Tenko on purpose to get her scorn. For the gender euphoria, you know. Not that he really needs to, since Tenko will scorn him as a matter of principle, but hey, you do what you need to do.

“How is Himiko? Is she cold? Tenko brought lots of warm layers, just in case Ouma-san didn’t bring enough for her!” Tenko’s eyes are wide and sincere, and Himiko lets out a sigh, popping up onto her toes to pat Tenko on the head.

“I hate how the consensus between you two was that I’d come underprepared for the cold,” Himiko mumbles, and Tenko only smiles at that, which Himiko considers to be progress.

It’s… when Himiko first woke up from the simulation, and saw Tenko again, right over there by her pod, she had burst into tears, so much emotion welling up in her all at once, way more than she ever thought she was capable of before everything that happened between the two of them. After Tenko died, it had gotten so easy to look back on their interactions with fondness and warmth and a deep and heavy  _ longing,  _ wishing she’d appreciated Tenko back when she was still alive. Tenko was so  _ good,  _ after all, so sweet and caring and genuine, and she’d urged Himiko to be open with her emotions, and Himiko couldn’t even articulate how much guilt and regret she felt, knowing that she would never get a chance to properly appreciate Tenko in life.

Only… she  _ did  _ get that chance. Tenko wasn’t dead, it was all fake, it was… Himiko got to see her again. And it was perfect, for a while, and maybe Himiko spent a good couple weeks clinging to Tenko almost harder than Tenko had clung to her back in the simulation, but neither of them had minded it, really, they both craved that closeness, that kind of close, dependant relationship, more than either of them could say, but…

Eventually Himiko  _ did  _ remember the reason why she hadn’t appreciated Tenko as much in life as she did in death, and it was more than just Himiko’s emotional constipation. This time, though, Himiko was able to sort out the things that she liked about Tenko, and the things that she didn’t so much, and they…

Well, they’re working on it. They’re working on it, and they’re getting better, and Himiko can say with honesty that Tenko is one of the people who she loves most in the world. It’s taken them a while to get here, after all. Himiko finds another smile crawling across her expression, and she looks at Tenko for a moment longer before it’s her turn to be bear hugged by Kaede.

Kaede is both unreasonably warm and unreasonably pleasant smelling, all sunshine and honeysuckle shampoo and light, soothing touches, and Himiko already knows before Kaede is pulling back that she’s going to be so damn cold when this hug is over. Not fair. Kaede is beaming when Himiko looks up at her, a sparkle in her plum eyes.

“How are you, Yumeno-san? Have you eaten breakfast today?”   
  


“You guys are so fussy,” Himiko complains, and Tenko and Kaede laugh, so Himiko releases a sigh, stepping back over to Kokichi, who is looking mildly harassed but pleased. (Kaede probably messed up his hair, but hers seems pretty ruffled too, so Himiko imagines he got his revenge.) “Yeah, I ate breakfast. Kokichi made crepes.”

“Oh! Crepes are good, that’s good!” Kaede beams, and she takes Tenko’s hand in hers, reaching up with the hand that’s free to fix the hair that Kokichi got his own grubby hands on. “I’m so excited for today! I’m really bad at ice skating, but I’m trusting Tenko to keep me on my feet!”

Tenko looks nervous for a moment before putting on a wide smile. “Tenko will catch Kaede if she falls! Not to worry at all!”   
  


…Right. So they’re going to be disasters in the rink. Himiko smiles a little wryly, but looks over at Maki, because she’s pretty sure Maki is the only person here who knows that Himiko has actually never gone ice skating before, and is fully expecting to be a disaster of her own. Kokichi is graceful, though, and this trip was his idea, so Himiko thinks she’ll… probably be better off than Kaede and Tenko. But only barely. Kokichi shouldn’t have to spend the whole time carrying her weight, after all. Himiko really wouldn’t want to weigh him down.

“Mhm! I’m suuuper excited to watch Chabashira-chan romantically help Akamatsu-chan ice skate!” Kokichi is giggling, likely having reached the same conclusion as Himiko. “You two are an inspiration, y’know?”

“Menace!” Tenko scoffs. “Don’t be watching Kaede and me ice skate like some sort of nasty voyeur degenerate!”

“Chabashira-chan!” Kokichi’s eyes go wide and well with tears. “You should  _ know  _ from looking at my comprehensive list of kinks that voyeurism is near the  _ bottom  _ of my top twenty, I can’t believe you would--”

A snowball nails Kokichi in the back of the head, and he nearly falls forward, scrambling to grip onto Himiko’s shoulder for purchase. Once he’s collected himself, he sputters indignantly, whirling around on his heel, bits of snow flying all over the place with the movement.

_ “Excuse me,  _ Miu-chan, but I thought we agreed your  _ slutsona  _ wouldn’t be making an appearance today!” Kokichi scoffs, before Miu can so much as speak, and rather than saying words, Miu lets out a long and embarrassed squeal, her face flushing. Himiko and Kaito sigh in unison.

“M-M-Me and my slutsona are a package deal, twink!” Miu stammers out, recovering. Her recovery time has improved over the years. Himiko was really expecting things to have soured between them after the killing game-- and they did, somewhat, in the sense that there were always those awkward pauses between banter, drawn out, quietly bitter looks across the room, but the two of them never stopped going at it, not even for a second. They must have actually talked things out at one point-- there’s no way that they could’ve recovered from what happened without having a conversation about it of some kind-- but Kokichi has never mentioned it. All Himiko knows is, one day, she came out to breakfast with everybody, and Kokichi and Miu were laughing with each other, rather than at each other.

It’s… nice. It’s really nice. Because those two were best friends back in the simulation. There have been times where, after waking up from a nightmare, Kokichi has been unable to do anything other than hold Himiko tight, his eyes screwed shut, shaking full body. That kind of betrayal is really hard to get over.

“Take it or leave it,” Miu continues, flipping her hair with one gloved hand. Noticeably, even in this cold weather, she’s still wearing fingerless gloves. It doesn’t seem to bother her much, which contrasts especially with Kiibo, who stands next to her, bundled up in a puffy winter coat, a scarf tucked over their nose, a beanie, ear muffs, and big snow boots. It makes Himiko giggle a little to see them like that, though she sort of feels bad about it, knowing how shitty their cold tolerance is.

Kiibo’s electric blue eyes flash over their scarf. In a muffled voice, they say, “Himiko, you’d better be laughing over the way Miu nailed your boyfriend with a snowball just now, and not my cold tolerance. My circuits weren’t made to survive under these conditions.”

That just makes Himiko laugh harder. It’s always weird when Kiibo talks about that-- because underneath all those layers, Kiibo is in fact entirely human, no matter how they were characterised during the simulation-- but it’s… hmmm. It’s nice that they’re able to joke about it now, even if sometimes somebody will call something  _ robophobic  _ in their presence, and Kiibo’s eyes will flicker with something dark, something heavy. A sort of… well, sorrow feels like too strong a word for the way Kiibo looks. But it’s a horrible thing to be robbed over your humanity.

“I knew it,” Kiibo huffs, but Himiko can hear the smile in their voice. She smiles at them, and turns to brush some snow from Kokichi’s hair before stepping away and taking them into an embrace. Despite how much they’re shivering, they’re both very warm and very poofy, and very pleasant to hug. They smell like dove soap and laundry detergent. A very fresh smell, especially in this weather. Kiibo takes their hands from their pockets to reciprocate the embrace. “Is this you apologising for laughing at me?”

“No,” Himiko says, pulling away. She smiles at them. “I missed you, though. You two are too busy.”

“That’s true, you have the right of that,” Kiibo sighs, adjusting their hat, their eyes flickering over to where Miu and Kokichi have started going at it. “There aren’t enough hours in the day to create all of the things that we want to.”

“Makes sense,” Himiko puffs out her cheeks. “I get tired just thinking about how much you work.”

One would think that Miu and Kiibo would’ve developed sort of a sad relationship with inventing after what happened to them during the simulation-- especially considering that Miu’s talent with inventions was supposedly given to her by  _ Team Danganronpa.  _ But there’s no way to artificially create that kind of brilliance, no matter what Shirogane Tsumugi said during that last trial, and Miu and Kiibo together make some kind of a genius power duo. It’s… pretty remarkable, actually. If Himiko thinks about it too hard, her head starts to hurt, but she really is very impressed with them.

Himiko turns back around from Kiibo once they’ve finished hugging, straightening out her coat, and is facing that way just in time to see Kaito bristle, full body, and then complain loudly, “Shuichi, you gotta quit doing that! Just wear gloves or something, man!”

“Why should I wear gloves?” Shuichi sticks his head out from behind Kaito, giggling despite how pink his nose is, blue strands of hair falling into his eyes. He’s grown it out a bit since the simulation. It’s long enough now to tie into a low ponytail, which Himiko secretly thinks is kind of stupid, but Rantaro seems to like it a lot, so, well, that’s that on the matter, really. “You and Taro both have very warm necks. I’m doing just fine.”

Chuckling, Rantaro remarks, “You’re terrible,” and then he comes out from behind Kaito, lifting a hand to wave. Noticeably, he’s bundled up in almost as many layers as Kiibo, though he lacks a scarf, and is instead wearing a dark blue turtleneck that his boyfriend probably got for himself. “Sorry we’re late, I got lost on the way here.”

“As you do, Rantaro-chan!” Kokichi giggles, and he breaks away from Miu to come over and pull Rantaro’s beanie over his eyes.

“As I do,” Rantaro agrees, fixing his hat and then messing up Kokichi’s hair. “Didn’t mean to keep you guys waiting, though, haha.”

“You’re annoying and the worst,” Kokichi replies, though Himiko thinks that has more to do with the fact that Rantaro is the third person to fuck up his hair within the span of five minutes than the fact that Shuichi and Rantaro are here late. “I hate you and hope you die painfully.”

“Jesus Christ,” Kaito says, releasing Shuichi from his bear hug, stepping away so that Maki will get her turn. (After Maki, it’ll be Kaede hugging him, so Himiko waits patiently from next to Kiibo, bouncing a little on her feet and peeking over at her friend.) “It’s fine, Amami, most of us only just got here. Think we mostly just left Kokichi and Yumeno waiting.”

“Ah, that’s a relief, then,” Shuichi remarks, squeezing Maki a little. “Vengeance for my birthday dinner last year.”

“Hey! That was an accident!” Kokichi huffs, and Himiko ducks her head, snorting. “Not a word, Himi Himi, or I’m getting a divorce!”

“Yes, honey,” Himiko giggles, and Kokichi’s expression softens as he looks at her.

“This is everyone, right?” Kaede asks, coming over and taking Shuichi into a hug that appears to be almost tighter than Kaito’s. (Nothing could rival the embrace they shared when Shuichi first woke up from the simulation, though. Himiko remembers the cry that escaped Shuichi when he saw her, the way he stumbled out of his pod and then collapsed to the ground, picking himself back up only to fall again once he was in Kaede’s arms. That was… an emotional day. They’ve been really close ever since, not that that’s any particular surprise.) “So we can go inside, once Yumeno-san gets her turn on the Shu-mobile?”

“The Shu-mobile?” Shuichi repeats, incredulously.

“Don’t cuck me, Akamatsu,” Himiko mumbles, tugging on the gloves Kokichi gave her.

“No cucking intended!” Kaede reassures, releasing Shuichi from the embrace. Himiko slips on over and pops up onto her tip toes to tuck her arms around Shuichi’s shoulders. He smells like coffee, and cinnamon, and old books, and he’s just generally warm, really, despite his hands feeling like icy pinpricks, even through Himiko’s shirt. She misses all her friends when they’re not around, but Shuichi the most, she thinks. There’s just something comforting about him, with his soft voice and his gentle smiles, that Himiko can’t help but… well, really love. He’s one of her best friends in the world.

“It’s good to see you, Himiko,” Shuichi mumbles.

“Gross,” Himiko returns, pulling away. Shuichi laughs, and then Rantaro messes up Himiko’s hair, and she ducks away. “Hey! Don’t be stupid, Amami!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Rantaro apologises, putting up his hands, but he’s grinning. Or at least, he’s grinning for a fraction of a second before Kaede tackles him in a bear hug of his own.

Once everyone has finished with their hugs-- it takes a bit, they haven’t been together in this big a group in ages-- Kokichi grabs Himiko’s hand, and the two of them lead the group on inside. As promised, it’s… still pretty damn cold out here, actually, and Himiko puffs out her cheeks, blowing out little huffs of air that she watches rise up to the ceiling. It’s kinda noisy over by the rink, and she’s really not looking forward to taking her shoes off to change into her ice skates, but Himiko thinks the thing that’s going to trouble her the most is probably going to be… well, ice skating itself.

Again, Himiko has never been ice skating before. She’s been roller skating, but she was  _ bad  _ at it, as in capital b bad, as in falling so often her knees and elbows were bruised by the time she got home. And roller skates are arguably easier to stay standing on than ice skates, just by virtue of the fact that they’re… well, Himiko wasn’t using roller blades. Roller skates have four wheels. There’s balance. Ice skates are just straight up blades.

She’s trying not to worry about it, though. The worst thing that’ll happen is that she makes a fool of herself in front of Kokichi, and well… actually, Himiko is pretty freaking worried about that outcome, but she’s  _ trying  _ not to be. Kokichi makes fun of her all the time, but she knows he’d lay off if she was genuinely embarrassed. It’s just… the thought that she’ll slow him down, make him have to accommodate her inexperience, that’s getting to her right now.

Himiko ponders this as she laces up her skates, listening to Kaito and Maki bicker about his shoelaces.

“I can tie them!” Kaito is insisting. He appears to have been trying to tie one of his skates for the past five minutes. “It’s just harder with skates, that’s all! What kind of moron can’t tie his shoelaces?”

“Kaito,” Maki gives him a sharp look. “Just let me tie it for you.”   
  


Maki has always been very blunt, so Himiko is really surprised that she’s not calling her boyfriend an idiot. Though, Kaito has always seemed to hate being called that, even before they left the simulation, and while there was a period of time where the group sort of just disregarded his protestations in that area, they seem to have calmed down about insulting Kaito’s intelligence. Maki and Shuichi in particular are pretty defensive about him, saying that it’s disrespectful to be calling Kaito something that he’s expressly stated he doesn’t want to be called-- especially when, as Shuichi will repeat endlessly, Kaito actually  _ is  _ pretty intelligent.

  
It’s sweet. But with the way Maki is looking at him right now, Himiko has to try pretty hard to remember that she feels that way.

“I’m only letting you do this because my hands are cold,” Kaito insists, as Maki kneels down to tie his shoelaces. “That’s the only reason!”

“You keep telling yourself that, Kaito,” Kaede sighs, as she stands up and immediately falls back down onto the bench. Clowns, the both of them. Kaede is giggling, though, especially as Tenko fusses over her, making sure that her ankles are okay after her stumble.

“Kaito, it’s alright if you can’t tie your shoelaces,” Shuichi points out, smiling. Simp. He’s always had a soft spot for Kaito, even if things aren’t really like that between them anymore. Himiko’s lip curls a little, but Shuichi doesn’t see it, his gaze still fixed on his friend. “Nobody here will judge you.”

“I can tie them!” Kaito insists. “Christ!”

“Geeeez, when will you all learn to believe a man when he says he can tie his shoelaces?” Kokichi pouts. “You’re so mean to my beloved Kai-chan!”

“Don’t-- Kich, don’t do that,” Kaito wrinkles his brow.

“What’s the problem?” Kokichi flutters his eyelashes, all innocent like. He stands himself up, walking gracefully on his skates, a broad grin on his face. “I’m on your side, aren’t I? Just like old times!”

Kaito rolls his eyes. “Whenever you defend me like that, you got some kinda ulterior motive. You’re just gonna follow it up with something weird.”

“Wow! Kaito-chan is sooooo mean!” Kokichi huffs, stamping one ice skate on the carpeted floor. “All I was gonna say was nobody believes me when I say I hung a man using only floss! But fine, clearly Kaito-chan can handle himself!”

“Not floss!” Tenko’s eyes go wide with horror. “It’s so thin and piercing!”

“Are-- Are we  _ supposed  _ to believe you when you say things like that?” Kiibo smiles, wryly, unwrapping their scarf from their neck. (Probably anticipating that they’re going to warm up a bit on the rink.) They stand, as well, dusting themself off a little and reaching for Miu’s hand.

“Yes? Wow! What crummy friends I have. C’mon, Himi Himi, let’s go on the rink already, these guys are a bunch of bullies.” Kokichi grabs Himiko’s hand and pulls her to her feet, and Himiko has barely managed to regain her balance before they’re walking over towards the ice.

Himiko’s eyes go a little wide. “Kokichi, you’re pulling my arm too hard,” Himiko complains, which isn’t really true, it’s just that her heart rate spiked when they started over, the ice getting closer and closer with every step they take. Dutifully, Kokichi moves slower, loosening his grip on her arm a moment to let them go at an easier pace. Himiko huffs a little. “Do we really have to skate now?”

“Hmmmm? Did Himiko come here for something else?” Kokichi raises his eyebrows. “Why, I’m always here for a bit of murder, but I didn’t see that coming from you, beloved! You’ve always been so pure and innoce--”

“Kokiiiichi,” Himiko whines, and Kokichi stops walking, just the slightest bit of concern flickering in his purple eyes.

“What’s the matter, Himi Himi? Did you not lace your boots properly? Or are you one of those people who stretches a bunch before skating?” He grins. “Wanna do some yoga first?”

The idea of doing yoga with her boyfriend at a crowded ice rink full of strangers makes Himiko’s face flush. She shakes her head.

Kokichi tilts his own to the side, raising his eyebrows. “So what’s the problem? Hmmmmmmm?”

Ugh. Himiko didn’t want to admit it, but now that they’re about to be on the ice, she doesn’t see a lot of options. He was bound to find out eventually. She lets out a little huff of air, averting her gaze and mumbling, “I dunno how to skate.”

“Huh?” Kokichi blinks. He smiles. “I already knew that, dummy.”

“What?” Himiko looks at him. “I never told you that, though.”

“Well, duh,” Kokichi rolls his eyes, “Himi-chan is still the type to get all embarrassed about things like this that don’t matter, and think that I’ll judge her or be inconvenienced by her not knowing.” He tugs her arm a little, and this time Himiko follows him without complaint, gripping the railing as they start to climb onto the ice. “But Himiko should know by now that she’s not a weight on me! It’s more fun when you have a cute, clumsy girl there to cling to you while you do it, anyway, y’know?”

That only makes Himiko’s face warm further. “Kokichi!”

“Hmmmm? What’s the matter? Should I use pretty, instead?” Kokichi is grinning, skating backwards on the ice a bit, stretching out Himiko’s arm as she hesitates to leave the carpeted steps. “Or beautiful? Or gorgeous?”

Those ones  _ really  _ get Himiko going; Kokichi calls her stuff like that all the time, especially in moments like this, probably because he likes giving her the gender euphoria, among other things, but it doesn’t make the words any less special to hear.

And it’s hard to feel nervous when Kokichi smiles at her like that. Tentatively, Himiko steps onto the ice, and lets go of the hand railing, only to nearly slip with a shriek, stumbling into Kokichi’s arms and scrambling for purchase with a hand on his bicep, her eyes blowing a little wide, her heart racing in her chest. Kokichi rests a hand on her waist, the other still holding hers, and he moves them backwards slightly, further into the rink, as Himiko catches her breath.

She lifts her forehead from his shoulder, seeking out his eyes with her own.

“Himiko really needs to get into her head how much I really, really don’t wanna be skating with anybody else,” Kokichi says, gently, releasing his hand to brush her jaw with his fingertips, guiding up her face so that they’re looking properly at one another. “Plus, you’ll totally get better at it with a little bit of practice! And if not, maybe you can get Rantaro-chan to skate with you on his back. That’d make him happy, stupid brother man.”

That gets a laugh out of Himiko. She shifts so she’s no longer fully leaning on Kokichi, though her hand is still on his arm, keeping her upright. She can’t help smiling at him. “Uh-huh,” her voice shakes a little, but she clears her throat, and smiles wider. “Okay. I’m… okay. I can do this.”

“You can!” Kokichi agrees. “And I’m right here to laugh at you when you fall.”

“Kokichi!”   
  


“Did I say that?” He grins, and he intertwines their fingers again, starting to guide them around the rink. “I meant catch you, sorry! Nishishi.”

Himiko scoffs a little, but the smile on her face doesn’t fade.

No matter what Kokichi says, she knows there’s no way he’d let her fall.

**Author's Note:**

> sighs. the hets are at it again
> 
> it's not mentioned in the fic but maki, tenko, shuichi, and kaede are also trans. as a treat


End file.
